After Cliff Lee got rocked on Opening Day, it's hard to blame him for being in a bit of a bad mood afterward. You work hard all offseason to get yourself ready for the new season, and then after your team gives you the honor of taking the mound in the first game, you go out and give up seven runs in five innings as your team gets pasted. It's not much fun.Still, that's no reason to go out and blame your teammates for your performance afterward, which is what a lot of people thought Lee did to Victor Martinez on Monday. Lee said that none of it would have happened if Martinez "lays out and is able to catch that ball."
Lee was referencing a single by Jarrod Saltalamacchia that just got by a diving Martinez and resulted in the first two runs of the game, with things quickly snowballing there after. As you'd expect, this caused somewhat of an uproar in the Cleveland media afterwards, and Lee wanted to clear the air about what he meant on Wednesday.
"I never meant to imply that Victor should have caught that ball or anything of that nature," said Lee. "Victor is a very good defensive catcher and he made a valiant effort for that ball.The two had a talk before Wednesday night's loss to the Rangers, and things seem to be patched up. I say seem to be because Lee and Martinez have a history together. Back in 2007 the two of them got into an argument, coincidentally in Arlington during a game against the Rangers, when Lee hit Sammy Sosa in the head with a pitch. As Sosa lay on the ground, Lee stayed on the mound and Martinez felt Lee should have at least come over to check up on Sosa.
"What I was trying to say is that this is a game of inches. A couple of inches like that is the difference of hits and runs."
Oh, and though Martinez was hurt for most of the 2008 season, it should be pointed out that Kelly Shoppach was Lee's exclusive catcher last season. So maybe, just maybe, Lee knew exactly what he was saying.
